Effects of α-D-Glucosylglycerol on the in Vitro Digestion of Disaccharides by Rat Intestinal Enzymes

Abstract

α-D-Glucosylglycerol (GG) is a mixture of 2-O-α-D-glucosylglycerol (GG-II), (2R)-1-O-α-D-glucosyl-glycerol (R-GG-I) and (2S)-1-O-α-D-glucosylglycerol (S-GG-I). GG has been found to be slightly hydrolyzed in vitro only by rat intestinal enzymes, but hardly at all by other digestive juices. GG suppressed the hydrolysis of maltose, sucrose and isomaltose by rat intestinal enzymes because the amount of glucose in the digestion of a mixture of GG and disaccharide was less than the sum of that in each individual digestion. The consumption of GG was suppressed by isomaltose, but promoted by maltose, with the hydrolysis of GG being suppressed. Sucrose appeared to suppress only the consumption of S-GG-I, suggesting that S-GG-I was hydrolyzed by the active site of sucrase in a sucrase-isomaltase complex. Transglucosylation seems to have occurred more frequently in the individual digestion of maltose and isomaltose than in that of GG and sucrose. GG seemed to promote transglucosylation in the presence of maltose, to suppress it with sucrose, and to delay it with isomaltose.